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ɫ���� Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Jimmy Lummis left the Office of Information Technology at the end of January to pursue another professional opportunity and commit more time to personal endeavors. He will continue to serve as a part-time faculty member at the Institute. 

“Jimmy was extremely instrumental in expanding our cybersecurity office to include critical teams that oversee operations, services, risk, and compliance,” said Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer Daren Hubbard. “Under his leadership, Cyber Security has established multi-factor authentication, endpoint management and protection, log management, and many other comprehensive programs. We appreciate his contributions and commitment to ɫ����.”

Hubbard has named Didier Contis, director of Technology Services for the College of Engineering, as interim CISO, effective Feb. 1. Hubbard, who has assumed leadership of ɫ����’s data security efforts, will work closely with Contis, Cyber Security, and other units to advance efforts to strengthen the security of Institute data. Contis reports directly to Hubbard in his interim role and serve as part of OIT’s senior leadership team.

“Over the past 22 years, I have witnessed firsthand the evolution of the cyber and data security challenges, and ever-evolving threats that a premier research institution such as ɫ���� must face,” Contis said. “As demonstrated by recent events, security cannot be an afterthought and must be an integral part of everything we do. Indeed, our constituents expect and trust that ɫ���� fulfills its mission in a secure way, especially when the world's digitization is accelerating. I have a lot of respect and appreciation for all the hard work the Cyber Security team has been doing over the years to keep and improve the Institute security posture. I look forward to working with them. We must also recognize the tremendous leadership and impact Jimmy Lummis had on the ɫ���� cybersecurity program. I feel honored to follow in his footsteps as interim CISO.”

Contis began his career at ɫ���� in 1999 as a research engineer for the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Before that, he was a network security engineer in the banking industry in France. He was the IT manager for Tech’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 2004 to 2007 before becoming the first director of Technology Services for the College of Engineering. In this role, Contis established several partnerships with OIT and other academic units to develop new campuswide services in support of research and instruction, with a strong focus on empowering users.

“As both an alumnus and a proud ɫ���� parent, I plan to work diligently in partnership with the community to ensure the security of the Institute and its data assets,” Contis said. “I am deeply committed to the fact that technology should enable students, faculty, and staff to work in an agile, reliable, and secure way. We must also work toward fully leveraging our data assets in a secure fashion to the benefit of our constituents, as well as to support the Institute's mission and new strategic initiatives.”

Contis holds a Master of Science in electrical engineering from ɫ���� and a Diplôme d'Ingénieur (bachelor’s degree) from the Ecole des Mines de Nantes-France.